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PlayStation vet Layden warns of tech companies disrupting games

PlayStation vet Layden warns of tech companies disrupting games

Former PlayStation boss Shawn Layden has warned of non-endemic companies disrupting the games industry.

Speaking at the GamesIndustry.biz Investment Summit, the industry veteran was asked what challenges faced the market. Layden said that consolidation is a huge issue, describing it potentially being "an enemy of creativity" before saying that the rising costs of business are an "existential threat".

He went on to say that external companies are an issue, too, pointing to the disruption the music industry faced from Apple, when the iTunes giant "convinced everyone that 99 cents per song was a good idea."

"Right now we see all the big players going, 'Oh, gaming? It's bringing in billions of dollars a year? I want a piece of that' And so we have Google, Netflix, Apple and Amazon wanting to get piece and trying to disrupt out industry," Layden said.

He continued: "I'm hoping gaming will be the first industry where we disrupt ourselves. Where it doesn’t take a Google or an Amazon to completely flip the table. We should be smart enough to see these changes coming and prepare ourselves for that eventuality."


PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Forbes-Calvin is a freelance writer and photographer, mostly operating within the games industry. Over his career, he has written for the likes of MCV, Eurogamer, GamesIndustry.biz, The Observer, VGC and Esquire. That's on top of writing books for Dark Horse on RuneScape, Assassin's Creed, Dead Island 2 and more.